Unit 9: Learning
How a neutral event comes to trigger a response it never used to, and how consequences shape behavior going forward.
4 topics · 13 questions
Each topic is a path, not a menu: work down it in order and every question builds on the one above. Click any of them to watch the answer draw itself.
Classical Conditioning
- How it worksHow does repeatedly pairing a neutral stimulus with an unconditioned stimulus turn it into a conditioned stimulus?
- Worked exampleFind which element, the bell, the food, or the drool, plays the role of the conditioned stimulus after 20 pairings.
- Common mistakeWhy isn't classical conditioning the same thing as an animal learning that an action produces a reward?
- Going furtherWhat happens to a conditioned response when the bell is rung over and over with no food following it at all?
Your turn1 of 2
A researcher rings a bell right before feeding a dog, repeats this pairing twenty times, and eventually the dog starts drooling at the sound of the bell alone, before any food arrives. A student is unsure which element in this setup counts as the conditioned stimulus. After the twenty pairings, which element plays the role of the conditioned stimulus?Operant Conditioning
- How it worksHow does operant conditioning use consequences that follow a behavior to make that behavior more or less likely?
- Worked exampleFind whether taking away a teenager's phone after curfew is positive punishment or negative punishment.
- Common mistakeWhy isn't negative reinforcement the same thing as punishment?
Your turn1 of 2
A teenager breaks curfew, and their parent responds by taking away their phone for a week. A student is unsure whether this counts as positive punishment or negative punishment, since something is clearly being taken away, which sounds like it should not count as 'positive' anything. Is taking away the phone positive punishment or negative punishment?Schedules of Reinforcement
- How it worksHow do fixed-ratio, variable-ratio, fixed-interval, and variable-interval schedules each shape a different pattern of responding?
- Worked exampleFind which schedule a slot machine uses when it pays out after an unpredictable number of pulls averaging one in twenty.
- Going furtherWhat happens to a learned behavior's resistance to extinction when you switch its reinforcement from continuous to variable-ratio?
Your turn1 of 2
A slot machine pays out on a variable-ratio schedule, averaging one payout every 30 pulls. Find how many total pulls are needed on average to earn 10 payouts.Observational Learning
- How it worksHow does observational learning let a behavior spread through imitation without any direct reinforcement of the observer?
- Common mistakeWhy isn't observational learning proof that watching violence always causes violent behavior in every child who sees it?
- Ties togetherHow does Bandura's Bobo doll experiment connect to how children pick up behaviors no one directly taught them?
Your turn1 of 2
In Bandura's classic study, children who merely watched an adult punch and kick an inflatable doll went on to punch and kick it themselves shortly afterward, without ever being rewarded for doing so. A student assumes learning must always require the learner's own behavior to be directly reinforced. How does observational learning let a behavior spread through imitation without any direct reinforcement of the observer?